Isla Mujeres info

[hydelotter]

Isla Mujeres is by far the most difficult place to check in my 35 years of cruising.
You cannot go into a marina until you have checked in.
There are two marinas that are authorised to let you tie up and will check you in. They are obviously favoured above the other 10 because you can go onto their docks if they have space, which in our case even though we emailed ahead and got confirmation, was not the case. They had no space for us.
Paraiso is extravagantly expensive. They charge $300 USD excluding the dock fees, and check in fees to clear you in. (Total almost 500USD) Milagro not far behind. They charge what the market will bear , way above what was advertised. Forget about 50 dollars. I would have paid that happily. But it's not available.
After finally clearing in you will spend another day going to Cancun on the mainland to get a temporary import permit for the boat. More forms, more waiting.
We checked in ourselves.
It took around 7 hours.
I am checking out myself today and have been waiting at the Port Captains office for 3 hours already, while locals are seen first. Another boat checking out and us are waiting and even after the place is empty, the guy makes us wait coz he is busy apparently.
They do this to force you to go through an agent.
So you can miss your weather window trying to get formalities done.
I have spoken to people who got the run around for several days!
There is a French YouTube video demonstrating just how unreal this situation is.
There is no speed limit in the harbour and even in the Marinas you will be waked by passing boats all day and late into evening and in early morning by fishing boats etc.
The food is great. The people are great. But I could not go through this again. It's just not that lovely that I would be willing to sit here for 7 hours again after an overnight sail.
I can only assume that the people who come here, haven't been to the Bahamas!

[mario f]

Greetings Hydelotter,
Sorry to hear your experience.
You drew the short stick and there are plenty of stories as yours from every country in the world.
A good experience can be had by knowing the culture, the language and most important your attitude, demeanor, personality.
If any of the above are not congruent with local officials the results could be as menial as miscommunication or your attitude or lack of knowledge on local costums can lead to appear as rude, inappropriate etc. And a looong check in.

This is a general coment to your post and in no way insinuates any of the above led to your experience.

By the way it took us 3hours a taco and a beer.

7 hours does not seem as a deal braker... heck it takes me 3 hours to make it through airport immigration, with a U.S. passport, go figure....

Mañana, mañana, chill and enjoy life.

(edit) entering U.S. with U.S. passport